


Disquiet

by reasonablywittyatbest



Category: Dishonored (Video Game)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-26
Updated: 2016-02-26
Packaged: 2018-05-23 09:12:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6111829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reasonablywittyatbest/pseuds/reasonablywittyatbest
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Havelock muses on Corvo after betraying him</p>
            </blockquote>





	Disquiet

Farley Havelock sat at his desk, staring at his journal.   It was hard to write on something so grim. Hard to speak on it as well.  It had been necessary he told himself.  They were all dead if he hadn't.  For the greater good it had been.  There was no other option.  Corvo needed to die for the good of the empire.  These excuses were a cold comfort; maybe if he wrote it down he would believe it more. He put paper to pen and started his log.

_We could not have done any of this without Corvo, and for that I will be grateful._

And Havelock was grateful he mused;  they would have accomplished nothing without Corvo. Still. They had broken Corvo out of prison in the hopes he would cut down their enemies. Instead he had slipped as quietly through the night as a shadow, leaving nothing to suggest he had ever been there. He had taken care of their foes with manipulation and surprising cunning.  Corvo had made the plans of the loyalist look as clever as a drunkard, as subtle as a dull knife.  

_But I fear he did not have the vision to see the future we must achieve for Dunwall._

He truly feared that Corvo would have found a similarly clever way to dispose of him when they inevitably disagreed.  Where would he have ended up? Could it have be worse than the Pendleton twins, forced to labor in their own mines unable to even voice their suffering.  Would he have ever seen the light of day again if he had crossed Corvo.  The thought of it was enough to make even the bravest man's blood run cold.  Corvo had been a man to be feared.

_We will not achieve our hold on the Empire with a little girl setting policy, and I believe Corvo's loyalty to the Kaldwin woman would have clouded his head._

Anyone who held his true loyalty was also to be feared. They would have been unable to get within ten feet of the little Empress if he suspected them of trying to manipulate her.  How could he have saved the empire he loved so much, with Corvo as gatekeeper to his influence.  True power would have been out of reach with Corvo as Emily's right hand.  What would all of this been for then.  

_Is she truly his daughter?_

Would she be as clever as he was? Would they even be able to manipulate her now,  if she took after him?  Even without Corvo to whisper in her ear Havelock had seen flashes of Corvo in her he had found deeply disquieting.  His stomach turned at the thought he might have to kill her too. For the good of the Empire of course. 

_We will take Dunwall to the pinnacle of strength, but Corvo's role in this cannot ever be recognized._

Havelock knew Corvo would never breath a word of any of it, he was clever enough to know that it might threaten the rule of his beloved little empress.  The people knew now that the Regent had betrayed the Empress, not Corvo.  Havelock knew he was making excuses as he wrote the words down.  Thin black lines scratched on the page seemed a poor cover for his true feelings but what else did he have.

_He must be vilified, and when I take the reins of the city – of the Empire – I will be seen as the hero and protector._

Corvo must be vilified so he himself would not be.  He committed an act so dreadful yet he could spin it to make himself look better.  Havelock knew he had done what he had done because he was afraid.  He was a coward.  Havelock shook his head, he could not allow himself to think that way.  A coward could not rule an empire.  No. He had done what needed to be done.  He had taken care of a threat to his empire.  Maybe not a threat Emily's empire, or Corvo's, but his own.  His empire must come first.  He would do what he must for his empire.

In the end they had known so little about Corvo when they started this whole affair.  He was quiet, he loved his empress, he was a terror with a sword.  That's what they had known.  Would they still have chosen him if they had known how smart he was.  How he could manage to sway events in his favor with the lightest touch. His amazing restraint made him a much more dangerous foe than a simple assassin.  The people could never know.   Havelock wanted to forget.


End file.
